


Blood Lust

by IcyPastel



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Blood and Gore, Cannibalism, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Other, look at my cannibal baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-12
Updated: 2014-10-16
Packaged: 2018-02-08 13:45:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1943400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcyPastel/pseuds/IcyPastel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kankri Vantas was a vegan, until he realized how nice human flesh would taste.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Section One

**Author's Note:**

> So basically I started watching Hannibal (movies and shows) and I decided to make Kankri a cannibal. Yeah.   
> Warning for later blood, guts, and cooking people.

You start the day like any other; waking up Karkat, dealing with his yelling before he takes his shower then sneaking out the back of the house to hang out at Gamzee's until school started. He knows that you hate Gamzee because of his drug addiction, so he purposefully hangs out with him to piss you off. Sometimes you think grounding him until you realize that he'd just sneak out behind your back. 

So, you spend the morning fixing up the house, as always. You spend 12 to 2 watching Pretty Little Liars and waiting for Karkat to return. When he does, it back to fighting with him. He stomps upstairs and locks himself in his room. You sigh before turning back on the TV and starting on making dinner.

You’re a vegan, so you pull out a small container of tofu and make vegan burgers with them. Upstairs, the sound of Karkat angrily typing away at his laptop can be heard. The wall in this house are thick, though, so Karkat must be ranting about you to his friends.

You wish he didn’t have friends.

It’s a horrible thought to think, you know, as you push up your red sweater sleeves. Karkat’s your world. You’ve been his guardian ever since he was ten and you were fourteen. When you’re father decided to leave for his “calling to the church”, you were left in charge of a fussy younger brother. Dad never came back, and truth be told you didn’t want him to. You can Karkat had become thicker than thieves together.

You can remember holding him on the porch as he waited to Dad to show up in his broken-down car. You made sure he was safe in bed every night. You two would watch Disney movies all day when Karkat had his field days and didn’t want to be abused by his peers. You took a world of trouble working all night then coming home to take care of him during the day.

He still doesn’t even know how hard you work for him. 

When you were fourteen, jobs were out of the question. People didn’t hire young teens who had a reputation of being bossy and a know-it-all. Instead, you transferred your college savings from a private account into an open account and got a debit card. You took up gardening to save money. You learned how to do things that made you feel like a 1940’s house wife.

Then Karkat came home one day with a slobbery, skinny dog he named Crab-dad and you couldn’t say no. The mutt was filthy and would piss on the carpet as soon as Karkat would leave for school. You had to chain the dog outside until Karkat can home. But KarKat loved that dog, and the dog loved him back. It was a shame he passed away on Karkat’s 12th birthday.

Now, Karkat was 15 and had grown to hate you. You don’t remember what you did to make him like this, but all you know now is that he resents every second he has to be with you. You choke back tears as you continue to chop up tomatoes. You never would imagine at your younger brother would grow to hate you. You didn't even know what you did to cause his rage. Maybe it was because, due to the pictures are the house, you looked like your father. Your father always said you were his clone. Now you not so sure he was joking.

Your hair flows in the same way his does. He used to have stubble when he lived with you, and you started shaving soon after he left. You never wanted to be associated with that man. Karkat loved him, though, and still has his picture in a small picture frame by his bed. 

The stairs creaked as Karkat stomped down. He stood in the hallway, glaring at you at the stove as you cooked dinner. He took one look at the vegan burgers and stuck his tongue out.

“I’m not eating that,” He said. “Plus I already decided to go out with Gamzee and Sollux later for the movies.”

You sigh. “But you used to love vegan burgers,” you say, flipping one of the patties.

“When I was five and stupid,” He says, taking out a soda from the fridge and snapping it open. “You should really add meat to your diet, Kankri. You’re going to get sick eating so much gross tofu and shit.”

“I can make my own decisions, Karkat. When are you leaving?” You ask, changing the subject. You had made three burgers, and now two of them will have to be stored in the fridge. 

“Later,” He said, and left for his room again. You were tempted to yell up at him to not leave you, but you didn’t have the strength to start an argument.

By the time dinner is done, Karkat had already slipped out and had left for his movie with this friends. You eat alone and watch TV, switching on Lifetime. You hate being alone. You wish Karkat’s movie would fail or something so he can come back to home and spend time with you. 

At nine o’clock, you get ready for bed. Normally, you would have left for your job, but today is the one day you have off. You figured you would have watched a show or something with Karkat, but seeing as he hates you now you just head up to bed. It doesn’t take you long before you quickly run downstairs and lock the door (Karkat has his own key) before laying down under your dark green sheets.

You pretend that the tears are because of the onions.

⌘⌘⌘

Karkat comes home late, as you expected. Normally you wouldn’t know, as you were a heavy sleeper and didn’t wake up for anything. But the pathetic little cell phone jiggle made you answer it and find your brother on the other end.

“Kankri? Can you unlock the door?” Karkat asked. You sigh.

“Where did your key go?” You ask, slipping out of bed and into your plain black slippers. You can’t stand the cold floor against your feet.

He growls on the other end. “I left it at home, I think.”

You walked downstairs and snap your phone shut as you open the door. Karkat keeps talking into his iPhone until you tap your foot in annoyance. He jumps and turns around.

“Really!? You couldn’t just fucking tell me you were standing there!?” Karkat taps his touch screen and turns the call off. 

“You would have yelled at me anyhow,” You say, frowning. “And don’t curse, Karkat, it’s offensive.”

“Shove your fucking ‘offensive’ up your ass, Kankri.”

You stiffen, shocked to hear him say that. He pushes past you and rushes up the stairs to his room. You can feel the walls shake when he slams his door shut. You sigh and head back upstairs. You’re too tired to fight him back.

The next morning, though, when you wake up, you find Karkat downstairs already. The TV was playing Love Actually. He was curled up on the couch, his fuzzy crab blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

“Why are you up this early?” You ask, and he jumped. 

“I just had a fucking bad dream. Leave me alone,” He answered, pulling his blanket closer to himself.

You frown and walk over to sit next to him.”Do you want to talk about it?”

“I said fuck off, Kankri.”

You huff and get up. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Something that isn’t vegan, that’s for sure.” 

You frown. “Karkat, it’s better for you though.”

Karkat just grumbling, turning back to his movie. You walk into the kitchen. You look at the clock and realize that it’s almost 7:30. The calendar on the fridge says today is thursday. You frowned and walk back into the living room. 

“Karkat, aren’t you suppose to be at school?”

Karkat stiffens and you frown. “I, um, decided to skip today.”

“Why?” You ask curtly, crossing your arms. You mastered this “angry mother” pose from Porrim.

Karkat just stayed quiet, something you knew was hard for him to do. “Karkat, you should be in class! Why would you even skip school? You need an education in order to get a job! I’m not going to baby you when you’re 25 and still living at home.” 

He looks like he’s about to yell when you throw your hands up. “It’s fine,” You say, then stalk back to the kitchen. “Just don’t let it happen again.”

⌘⌘⌘

After you finish making breakfast for you and Karkat, you decided today would be a good day to go out to the library. You had already finished your books of social justice last week, but you were on a tight schedule and couldn’t have gone. Recently, though, with Karkat now home, you had a chance of leaving the house without being paranoid that it was going to catch on fire while you were away. 

It doesn’t take long for you to drive over to the library. In 5 minutes, you’re inside and returning your books before glossing over the shelves full of thick novels and textbooks. This was the one place you felt calm and relax, like you didn’t have to know everything. You used to take Karkat here when he would have hissy-fits because he loved being read stories about princesses and dragons and knights. He even told you he wanted to be a knight when he grew up. It’s that sweet?

You glide over to the non-fiction section and read over long titles. Each sounds boring to you. The majority of this section you’ve read before, and you can’t help but grab out an old Bible. Your father was Catholic, and you hated him but still relish in the religion. 

“Kankri? Is that you? You almost never come this early!” You nearly drop the Bible as you swiftly spin around. Standing there behind a big wooden cart full of books is Aranea, who has to push up her white-rimmed glasses to properly see you.

You nervously chuckled. “Oh, why, I didn’t know you still worked here,” You manage to say, stuffing the Bible back into its tight spot. 

She smiled and shakes her head. “I could never leave this place. Vriska did as soon as she could, but I’m too attached to the smell of old books.”

You smiled as she pulls off the spot you know she memorized by heart: The Book of Spiders. You remember being five years old and looking over pictures of black widows eating their mates with her. Back then, before you met Latula, you can’t not admit you had a small crush on Aranea. She was smart and read you big words you couldn’t understand. By now your vocabulary has probably tripled her’s, but you don’t want to rub it in. She’s the closest thing you’ve ever had to a best friend.

She flips through the pages before putting in on her cart. “I should just buy the book,” She mumbled, blushing. 

“Honestly, the library should just give you the book. You help out this place so much you deserve it,” You reply. “By the way, did you get any new books?”

“Well,” She started, biting at her thumb nail. “We have new teen fiction, but I don’t think you’d enjoy that at all. You don’t come off as the guy who would get a kick out of reading vampire romance stories.” You blush and nervously chuckle, embarrassed to remember you have the entire Twilight saga sitting by your bedside table. “And there’s new magazines, but they’re all out or about fashion. But we did get a whole collection of medical books. If that interests you.” 

“Medical books?” You ask.

“Yeah,” She smiles and rolls her cart over two isles. She pulls out three books and hands them to you. “They’re medical textbooks that colleges use. We aren’t actually suppose to give them away, it’s a law or something stupid like that, but I trust you more than I do college students. I think you’d enjoy them, honestly. They’re full of big words and diagrams and functions. I always saw you as becoming a doctor one day.” 

You nodded as she keeps rambling, knowing that the both of you share a common hobby of talking. She slows down once you two are back at the front check-out line. Rose, the new employee, is taught how to ring you out by Aranea as she babbles. Rose looks thoroughly confused at Aranea’s jumping back and forth, and eventually you help learn her through in hush tones. She smiled once she’s done checking out your books. You grab the three of them and nod to the blonde before slipping out with an echoing “Goodbye, Aranea!”

You thought you would have made it to your car before you see Aranea rush out. She’s waving a slip of colored paper in her hand and you stop and wait. “Here’s this!” She exclaims. She’s out of breath and nearly bending over to get some air. “It’s an...invitation...to this Halloween party I’m having soon,” She smiles. “I thought you and Karkat would like to come.”

You look it over, fairly sure you have nothing that date and nod. “I’ll see if Karkat wants to come,” You said before slipping into your car. “Have a great day.”

“You too!” She says and she turns to leave back for the door of the library. You shake your head, knowing full well that Kakat is going to say no. He was never one for parties.


	2. Victum #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kankri meets some of his "friends", and his killing streak begins (sloppily).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! first death. tw: for death, mention of rape (not that big though) and somewhat torture and attempted suicide (idk about the suicide part, but I digress) and gore. anyway, my girlfriend Arial (myanacondomdont on tumblr) helped me write this so yeah! have fun vuv ((btw go follow my gf she's awesome))

“Sure, why not? I’m already fucking bored already.”

You stand in the living room entryway, gasping. “Are you sure you’re feeling ok, Karkat? This is a party with people whom I thought you despited.”

Karkat growls, “I know, but it’s better than being fucking holed inside with nothing but shitty movies to watch.” 

“If you say so. I guess I’ll call her and tell her we’re coming. We have to bring something for the buffet though,” You say, sliding the three medical dictionaries onto the living table as you sit down on the loveseat. Karkat looks over the titles before scrunching his nose up.

“Since when did you read about this shit?” He asks, pulling on over to flip through the pages. “I told you hated blood and guts. That’s why we don’t eat meat.”

“I do, but Aranea--” You can hear the smirk on Karkat’s face when you say her name. “--suggested it to me because of how I usually read long books.”

Karkat scootched across the couch, still smirking. “So how long have you two been talking?”

You roll your eyes and stand up, marching into the kitchen. “She was just there for her shift at the library. We don’t talk.”

Karkat huffs. “Fine, then, don’t tell me the interesting details of your secret love affair.”

You choke on your salvia and harshly turn back towards him. Your face is beet red and he’s still grinning like a moron. Normally, you would have yelled or something, but you were too shocked to reply with anything other than your one hand raising and falling like you were going to scream. Karkat smugly swiveled back towards the TV.

You decide to ignore him and let yourself calm down. Scooping up the medical books, you storm upstairs to read in peace. When you enter your room, it feels darker to you than normal, even though you have the blinds open and the lights on. You don’t think about it too much, and sit down at your desk and open the top book.

The text in much more complex than what you thought. You can’t understand certain words or phrases, so you pull over your dusty laptop and type in different links and words the book provides. You watch numerous videos on autopsies and surgeries, great surprised by your lack of disgust. Maybe blood and guts weren't that bad.

You pass the afternoon reading and watching before Karkat angrily bangs in the door for dinner. Sighing, you open the door and head downstairs to start dinner.

"So, what would you like today?" You asked out of generosity.

Karkat grumbles and turns around from his seemingly-permit spot on the couch. "We're all out of rice, tofu, and noodles so go to the store."

You bite your tongue. "Why you'd you?"

"I'm busy."

"Karkat, you're 'busy' is bull-" you close your mouth, digging your nails into your hands. "Fine, I'll go to the store. I'll just get something quick."

You grab your keys and head out to the store, driving along and noticing the clouds look heavy. The store isn't crowded, with only five other cars in the parking lot. It starts to rain once you get inside, thankful that you have something thick around you so you won't get sick or cold.

The lights buzz and flicker as you walk down the isles of freezers. You'll go shopping for groceries later, but for now you just grab a box of spring rolls to heat up in the microwave when you get back. Turning you hope to quickly pay and get out of there.

That is, until you bump into someone.

"I-I'm sorry," you start, regaining your stance. You look up to properly apologize and your blood runs cold. "Oh, um, hello Kurloz..."

He smirks at you with his tattooed lips. You remember him giving you the same look before he would punch your face and give you a bloody nose. He always used to physically assault you, as a year ago in high school you were chubbier than ever before. His gang, which you used to think was silly, would steal your cash and beat you up. You learned long ago just to give them the money and be quiet around them.

"Well, um, I have to go to my little brother. M-maybe we could catch up later," you mumble, trying to push past him to get the cash register.

His hand lands on your shoulder and holds you were you are. He grins and takes the colorful cardboard box from our hands. Its thrown uncaringly into a freezer as he pulls you outside. His car is dented to hell, but you don't notice too much as you're shoved into the back seat. He motions for you to sit still and be quiet. It doesn't take him long to rev up his engine and start driving away.

You fold your hands in your lap as you try to calm your nerves. It's only been a year since you were out of high school, so what does he have planned for the 12 months he couldn't bully you? The thought sends chills down your spine.

"Kurloz, listen, I think that--" He growls and stops the car. You shut up and bit your lip. "Nevermind."

He seems pleased and starts driving again. You soon realize he's leading you into a park. The car is parked in a little hidden spot as he gets out and motions for you to follow him. You do as you're told, and hurry after him. Twigs break and crack as you two walk in silence. Behind Kurloz's back, you press your palms together and pray you'll come out alive.

A small clearing comes into focus, and you cross your arms and grip at your sweater sleeves. There's some other young men standing around, and even more hanging in the trees. A small chest cooler sits next to a stump. Kurloz gestures to the wooden seat, and you slowly sit down.

"So you got him here? Took ya long enough."

You turn and see Cronus leaning against a tree, smoking a handmade cigarette. "Cronus? I thought you hated Kurloz--" You shut up when Kurloz brings his hand up to slap you.

"Chill, chief, chill," Cronus lowers Kurloz's hand. "He doesn't know shit."

You see Kurloz sign something, and Cronus signs something back. A couple of the junkies around chuckle. You feel more nervous than ever and recite prayers under your breath. Biting your lip, you stand up and turn around to look at the two tall men.

"Where do you think you're goin'?" Cronus hisses.

You pat your pockets and place the 20 bucks you had on the stump. "I can't stay, I'm sorry. I have to go and get Karkat something to eat--"

"So are you hungry too?"

You look from Kurloz to Cronus. "Um, a little bit, but not much--"

"Well come here," Cronus swipes the money off of the tree stump and pats on it. "Sit. We'll take nice care of ya, promise."

You nervously sit back down, gripping at your sweater hem again. Kurloz smirks and opens the cooler. You don't take much notice to it, as you're too involved with seeing where Cronus was going to go. He stalked around you like you were something he wanted to gut and hang the head on his wall. Which was probably true.

You and Cronus used to be close. He'd come over quite a bit and help you out with Karkat. Eridan would sometimes tag along, and the two little ones would run around together as you and Cronus would study for exams and clean up. At one point you thought you fell in love with him, and told him so. Your relationship with him ended on a sour note after he tried to stick his hands down your pants.

He seems to remember quite well. "So, you still a celibate, doll?"

You nod, noting in the back of your mind that Kurloz is rummaging around the in the blue cooler.

"Why you gotta be like that? You're so cute, doll, I think its a waste of a nice ass, ya feel me?"

"No, Cronus, I don't. I think it's the proper way for me to live, as it follows my beliefs and morals. You should know better than anyone how I run my ho--" You stop ranting when you feel something cool and slimy be stuck in your lap. You don't look down, to scare of what you'll find. "C-Cronus...what's that?"

"Why don't you find out for yourself, Kan," He smirks.

You bite your lip, placing your hands down carefully. You can hear some gang members snicker from the trees when you're hands touch the cold, slimy object on your lap. Your back shivers as you feel it more. The junkies cheer from the trees for you to look down. Caving in, you looked down and scream, pushing the...the thing from your lap and move to the side to hurl.

It’s a human torso. A cut up, oozing, human torso.

“That--” Cronus says, putting his hands on your shoulders and pulls you against his chest from behind. “--is what happens to people that fuck with us, doll.”

You cough and bring a shaky hand up to wipe your mouth off. “W-what did I-I do to deserve this? I-I didn’t do a-anything to you!”

“That’s that thing Kan,” He whispers close to your ear. “I loved you and you didn’t love me back.”

You gasp. “Y-you tried to rape me! That i-isn’t love!”

Cronus growls and pushed you down, falling on top of the torso. You swallow back bile and try to get up to run away, down the road, somewhere not here. But Cronus is faster than you and pulls you back by your sweater collar. More people laugh at you, and from the corner of your eye you see Kurloz smirking and playing around with a butterfly knife.

You don’t think you’ll be leaving anything soon.

⌘⌘⌘

The sun is up by the time you get home. You’re shaking so hard and covered in the corpse’s blood that you can’t drive back home. Kurloz drops you off, and you hurriedly rush inside. Karkat’s sleeping on the couch with the start screen of a movie playing on repeat. You creep past him and go to your bathroom. You strip and furiously wash yourself over and over again for almost an hour.

When you finish, your still shaking and bright red from the hot water and vigorous rubbing. Karkat is still sleeping when you go downstairs after changing. You take out bleach, a bucket, and a scrub brush and harshly clean up the blood splatters. Karkat finally wakes up at 12 o’clock in the afternoon, after you have finished cleaning up.

“Where the fuck were you? I stayed up all night to see if you would come home,” Karkat mumbles. “I even called Porrim as well.”

You hiss under your breath. Porrim would want to know what happened, and you really didn’t want to recall what had taken place last night. “It’s alright, Karkat, I’m an adult. I don’t need to be babysat.”

Karkat growled now and folded his arms, glaring at the other angrily. “Kankri, stop being so damn secretive! I should know--” He stopped for a second and smirked. “Oh, I see how it is. On the same day you ‘meet’ Aranea, you also are gone the whole night. I know what happened now.”

Your inside are boiling with rage but you don’t tell him that it’s a lie. You don’t have the strength to fight back after last night. Instead, you put the heavy bucket of chemicals outside and throw off your rubber gloves. The coffee is finally made from when you had set it up earlier, and you take a cup up to your room. Karkat gives you this weird look the whole time.

You lock the door as soon as you get inside, putting the mug on your desk. You've been up all night, and instead of working on projects or reading your medical books, you lay down and try to sleep. Even if it is already the afternoon, you’re too tired to fight back against the dark wave of slumber that consumes you when you put your head on the pillow.

Your dreams are corrupted by mutilated bodies. You keep breathing in ash and rotting flesh when you try to stay calm. Looking to your left and right you can see the bodies of Kurloz and Cronus trying to run after you with knives. You try to run, to escape, but are caught in the ground that’s slowly falling away from your feet.

Karkat wakes you by pounding at the door and you nearly scream when you bolt up from your bed. Sighing, you answer the door with the sheets wrapped around your shoulders.

“What is it Karkat, I’m trying to sleep.”

“Cronus just called,” Karkat explains as you feel your heart fall to the floor. “He says he found your car in the parking lot of that grocery store down the road. Didn’t you drive home in it last night?”

Your brain fizzles and you pull the sheet closer to you like a barrier. “N-no, Karkat I was...with Kurloz last night. He needed me to help with something he and Cronus were working on.”

“What the fuck was it that they needed you at 12 at night?”

“It was...a college project,” You say numbly. “They needed me to...try something they were making for a culinary art class. Apparently Kurloz loves to cook.” You feel bile at the back of your throat but push it down. “Nothing much, really. It was...different.”

Karkat nods and frowns. “Well, the two fuckfaces are going to pick you up tonight to get your car and to hang out again. Cronus seems to really like you. Remember when--”

“Karkat, I remember everything, I know.” You shut the door and flop back onto your bed, tears welling in your eyes. You’re going to throw up if you have to do what you did last night. It was disgusting. Humans were not made to be...to be eaten.

You shake your head and reach a hand over to sort through your drawers. Karkat has a horrible problem: insomnia. Sometimes Karkat would be up for days because he couldn’t sleep, watching movie after movie. You remember panicking after it happened a couple of times and rushing him to the doctor’s. Karkat now has medicine to control his sleeping habits, as well as some old knock-out pills you keep in your side drawer. Sometimes (when he was younger anyway) he’d wandered into your room and crawl into bed. You always had a cup of water and the pills ready for when he needed them.

Now you look at the same pills you were so worried about giving to Karkat being in your hand. Two of them, a light blue color, which was promptly shoved into your mouth. You chugged them down and lay back onto your bead. Karkat was huffing outside the door but you didn’t hear him for long before you were zoning out.

(###)

When you wake up, Porrim’s leaning over you with a concerned look. In her hand was a cool cloth, being pressed against your forehead. “Tell me again what you think he took, Karkat.”

“These,” He says, holding his hand out. “I came in after he shut the door on me and I saw him like this. I didn’t fucking know what to do, so I called you.”

She nodded and took the thermometer out of your mouth. Sighing, she put into the plastic container that was on the side drawers. A green bottle was taken out in its place and orange liquid poured into the small medicine vial. “Take this, Kankri. It’s going to make you throw up, so be ready.”

You frowned and groggily push it back, away from yourself. “No...I don’t...don’t wanna….” You mumble and push the plastic cup away, frowning. “‘S better this way.”

Porrim rolls her eyes and puts the cup to your lips, tilting your head back with the other. You couldn’t fight against the gross, thick burning liquid being pushed down your throat. As soon as it hits your stomach, you gag and lean over. Porrim already has the throw-up bucket beneath your face as you hurl up the two sleeping pills.

“Kankri, did you even check the dates? Those were old, and also a bit too high for you to take so many.” You don’t tell her you only took two, your throat burning too badly. Karkat hands you a glass of water that you chuck down. Porrim scolds you some more as she goes to empty out the vomit bin before walking back over and laying you down. “I’ll tell Cronus and Kurloz that you’re sick and can’t meet them tonight. Not that I want you to anyway, but you’re an adult now and don’t need babysitting.”

You nod and let her lay you down. You’d never tell her this, but you loved it when she would read to you at night and lie with you when you two were younger. She was like your mother, even when your father was around, and she loved to give you attention. Maybe that’s why you became such an arrogant asshole in the first place.

Karkat nods and leaves, Porrim following close by. You can hear the hushed whispers of them out in the hallway, Porrim obviously confused and scared about what had happened to you. Thank god Karkat can't stay quiet because you can hear his parts of the conversation.

"No, Porrim I don't fucking know. He came home late enough where I was fucking dead asleep on the couch... no, he's not going to tell you. This is Kankri were fucking about, the shithead...Porrim, that's not going to work, he'll just piss himself like the baby he is.”

You sigh and bury your head into the pillows, deciding to forget about them. They don’t know what you’ve been through the past night or so. God, how long ago was it? You can’t remember, if fact everything from that night is a blur.

Porrim returns, probably thinking about how disgustingly miserable you look. She probably starts petting your hair out of pity, you sourly think, but put your head on her lap once she sits down anyway. The comfort was nice, even if you were positive it was out of complete pity. But, even if this was some pathetic way to help, you accepted it. You let your heavy eyes shut as he thin fingers wove through your dark curls. You’d love to sleep, truly, but everything was just haunted with.. The things that had occurred that night.

“Porrim?” You asked, voice quiet and tiny. Just like how you felt. “You don’t have to stay. I’m perfectly capable of handling myself, I just took some bad medicine is all. I can handle feeling a bit ill.” 

The woman tensed, letting out a long sigh. “Are you sure you’re okay Kankri? You scared Karkat and I to death and back.” You nod, just wanting her to leave and stop having everyone breathing down your neck. She is hesitant, but she eventually nods in agreement. “If you start to feel ill, call me right away. Or a hospital if it’s really that bad.” She assured, giving his hair one last stroke before standing, making you sit up.

After she leaves, Karkat comes in and looks at you, frowning. “How did you get her to leave so easily?”

You just shrug, running your shaky, slim fingers through your tight curls. “I told her I’m feeling okay.” You mutter, figuring Karkat wouldn’t leave until you gave him an answer. Karkat, of course, is iffy on your response. He gives you a questioning glare. “Whatever. Just.. Watch what you take, dammit. If you start feeling sick again or something just, call me or something. I’m going out with Gamzee.”

You nod, your pale lips twitching down into a frown at that. You really despised that kid. You viewed him as a hoodlum. And the fact that your little- no, not little. Baby brother. That fact that your baby brother was hanging around such a boy infuriated you, no matter how much you stayed silent about it.

As Karkat left though, your mind started to wander. Gamzee Makara. Little brother of Kurloz Makara. And you gag, literally gag just thinking about his name. You start to feel so grimy and gross and just downright awful. Karkat sprints back at the sound of your gag. He must’ve known what was coming, maybe by the paleness in your face or how your legs were starting to shake. Regardless, he was running over and pushing the now-empty bin that held your bile from earlier. You take it gratefully, letting the contents of your stomach spill into it. It wasn’t much anyways. Just spit and stomach acid that made your throat sting and tingle in the worst of ways.

“Kankri, this is ridiculous.” He says. “What is up with this. Do you have a stomach bug? Was there pills you didn’t throw up?” You hated the constant surveying from him, but you did appreciate he was starting to loosen up and stop being the hard, cold boy he usually was and acting like actually caring human. “I’m fine.” You choke out, causing your esophagus to burn even more. The last thing you needed to be doing with stomach acid eating away at your throat was talk.

Karkat sighed and stood. "Kankri.." was all he said, frowning and putting his hands in his pockets. It took a bit before he continued. "Don't do this shit to me. You're the only person I have left." With that, he turned and left the room, leaving the words hanging in the room with you. You sit there in silence, thinking about your brothers words. It wasn't like you were trying to kill yourself or anything. You didn’t think so at least.

You tried to spend the day like any other normal one. Watching TV, reading, cooking up meals for you and Karkat when needed. When the younger Vantas laid down for bed though, you were still wide awake. You already messed up your sleep schedule with trying to escape reality, and then the dreams your mind made ended up worse than reality. So you simply stayed up, curled in a blanket and watching some pointless show that no one ever watched, and it was truly a miracle it still existed.

That was, until there was heavy knocking on the door. You make a face, wondering who the hell would be knocking at your door at 3 in the morning. But then fear washed over you, face going pale and your own spit becoming thick and hard to swallow. You keep thinking about how Porrim said she was going to tell them you were sick, but did they not listen? Slowly making your way to the door, you answer, exactly who you were dreading standing there.

“So. Thought you could pop a few pills and make yaself sick to ditch us, huh?” Cronus asked, unlit cigarette bouncing between his lips as he talked.

“Wha? No, no that’s not. Not at all.” You stutter out, words getting stuck in your throat and making you choke. “I, I didn’t mean to get sick. They were, just bad.” You start to hope he buys it, because it’s honestly the truth, and you don’t want to be punished for be telling the truth.

Cronus rolled his eyes, obviously not buying it. “Whatever. C’mon.” He said, reaching over and grabbing onto your arm. Your eyes widen, a feeling of dread dropping into your stomach like a rock. 

“Cronus, I-I’m sick…” You stuttered, pulling your arm away from him. “I really can’t go out, Karkat needs me here too--”

“It’s three in the damn morning. He’ asleep. He doesn’t need you.”

“But I need to be here for when he wakes up. So I can’t go,” You pull again, hoping he would let you break free. But of course, you were wrong. His grip stayed tight on your arm, and you were honestly scared you were going to wake up with bruises on your arm the next day. 

“You’re going.” Cronus stated, tugging you out the door. You decide not to protest, just for your sake. Maybe you could be cooperative and make things pass quick enough to where you are here when Karkat wakes up. Cronus shoves you into a car, and you grunt and just shut up. Kurloz is in the front seat, glaring back at you with an evil grimace. It send shivers through your body and it makes you want to throw up. 

Kurloz chuckles, the sound coming from deep into his chest. You want to curl into your chest and disappear. “W-where are we going?” You ask, tugging on the edges of your sweater. Your eyes glance from the window to both of their faces. The house slowly escapes from your view.

“We’re going somewhere fun,” Cronus says, turning away from the road to see your reaction. You try to swallow but fail to. Kurloz still stares at you and you can’t help but feel even worse. He never smiles unless he’s about to give someone hell.

Something tells you that you’re the one who he’s targeting.

Cronus drives for a while longer while you shiver in the back and try to keep from puking onto his expensive car carpet. When he stops, there’s still the little gang hanging around a couple picnic table, where another cooler laid on top. Oh god.

“Alright, Kan,” Cronus said, popping open his door. “Here we are. We’re gunna have some fun tonight.”

Kurloz is already trying to open your door, but you unbuckle quickly and shift to the other’s side. You can tell he’s going to get pissy really fast with your antics, but as long as he can’t touch you you’ll be fine. Sadly, though, you forgot about Cronus and he pulls you out by the back of your sweater. 

“Don’t try that, babe, you’re only going to hurt yourself.”

Kurloz is already opening the cooler by the time you get to the table. The wood beneath your hands is rough when you grip it. “P-please, Kurloz, I-I’ll do anything--”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Cronus grounded out. “You’re going to do what we tell you too and that’s final.”

Kurloz nodded and pulled out this new body part. Instead of a torso like last time, it was an arm and leg, skinned in some parts. You could obviously tell that it wasn’t covered for some time based on the decay around said skinned areas. You covered your mouth, bile rushing to the back of your throat but you wouldn’t let it out. Not here. Not in front of them.

The butterfly knife from a couple of days ago comes into view, switching the blade out and you try to swallow your thick spit. Kurloz takes a piece of the leg, from the upper thigh, and cuts it away. Once it’s off the main piece, he waves it in front of your face while it hangs off of the knife.

Something inside of you snaps. 

Within moments, your hands knocked the knife from Kurloz’s hands, and into your’s. You don’t even blind when you push the limbs to the side. Harshly, the blade is hilt deep into Kurloz’s eye, and Cronus screams something to the druggies hanging around. A couple of them try to calm you down while Kurloz tends to his bleeding, missing eye. 

You swipe at a couple of them, and they retreat once you cut one of their arteries and the blood looks like much more than before. Cronus just stares before trying to run back to his car. You see him from the corner of your eye and follow him. He shrieks once he sees you. His hands shake as he tries to open the door with his key instead of pressing the button, a horrible mistake.

But the time Cronus knows what hit him his throat is slashed and no one’s around. He tries to call out as he backs up against the car, but you think you cut his vocal cords as well. It doesn’t matter. You simply watch his mutely scream and cover his neck until he slows down and eventually falls still.


End file.
